The United States of BBQ: The Best Barbecue From Each of the 50 States

Few people have logged more hours on the road eating barbecue than scholars Daniel Vaughn and Robert Moss. Here, they joined forces to map out the best brisket, ribs, and pulled pork our country has to offer.

Three decades ago, one would have been hard-pressed to compile a list of the best barbecue in each of the 50 states. America’s low-and-slow tradition was a highly regionalized practice mainly found in the South. Back then, asking a person to track down a single barbecue restaurant in states with little spiritual connection to the wood-burning pit—Connecticut, say, or North Dakota—was sending him on a fool's errand.

On the plus side, though, it is now possible to find really good barbecue no matter where your travels may take you. So, when First We Feast asked Daniel Vaughn and I to compile our picks for the best barbecue in each state, we pulled out our maps, scanned our sauce-stained eating logs, and decided, yes, we might actually be able to pull this thing off.

And then there are places like Alaska and Utah. It’s not for lack of trying, but even between the two of us we’ve not yet managed to canvass the barbecue in every single state in this big nation. So we leaned upon our a few trusted friends and fellow food writers for nominations for the more out-of-the-way corners of the country.

Local partisans, we are sure, will quibble with our picks, but that comes with the territory when you start ranking barbecue. We do feel confident about one thing, though: If you go and eat at any one of these spots, you’re bound to have a memorable meal.

Here is the best barbecue from each of the 50 states.

Alabama - Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q

In a state chock-full of great barbecue, we have to give the nod to Big Bob Gibson, where they’ve been cooking splendid pulled pork and ribs on big brick coffin pits for almost a century. Even better is the barbecue chicken, dressed with the now-famous Alabama-style, white mayo-based sauce that Big Bob invented himself.—RM

Alaska - Zerelda's Bistro

Neither Daniel nor I have made it all the way to Alaska to sample the barbecue (yet), so we turned to Midgi Moore, food writer and owner of Juneau Food Tours, for help. She endorses the daily barbecue specials at Zerelda’s, which incorporates its slow-smoked brisket and pulled pork into everything from fusion tostadas to sandwiches.—RM

Arizona - Little Miss BBQ

When you can convince people to stand in line on hot asphalt in the desert, you know you’re onto something. At Little Miss BBQ, they’re waiting for superb smoked brisket, house made sausages, and their specialty of smoked lamb neck, served weekly.—DV

Arkansas - Jones Bar-B-Q Diner

Barbecue by the pound or a barbecue sandwich are all you have to choose from at Jones Bar-B-Q Diner. In these parts, barbecue means pork, and sandwiches come on white bread with slaw and tart sauce. Bring cash and come early, like before 11:00am, if you want to taste the pork that earned Jones a James Beard award.—DV

California - Hitching Post I

Santa Maria-style barbecue is often forgotten, but in tiny Casamalia it’s on full display at the Hitching Post. Steaks, chops, linguisa sausage, and sometimes even artichokes sizzle above a red oak fire, and you can watch it all from the dining room before digging into a smoky sirloin steak.—DV

Colorado - OwlBear BBQ

This pick comes from Denver resident, author, and barbecue aficionado, Adrian Miller. After Karl Fallenius, who trained at Franklin Barbecue in Austin, opened Owlbear Barbecue in 2016, Denver has built a reputation for smoking something other than pot. Owlbear is a food truck permanently located in a funky food court next to a bar called Finn's Manor, and it offers up superlative beef brisket, pastrami, and pork tenderloin.—DV

Connecticut - Hoodoo Brown BBQ

I haven’t visited HooDoo Brown, but it's tops on my list of barbecue joints to visit in the country. I have friends with good taste, some traveling from as far away as Sweden, who swear HooDoo is the best barbecue they've eaten outside of Texas. When I stop in, it’ll be for the pork belly, beef ribs, and Texas poutine with brisket gravy.—DV

Delaware - Kiwanis Chicken Bar-B-Que

Vacationers heading to the Delmarva shore know the best barbecue option is the chicken sold along the roadside by nonprofit groups like the Kiwanis Club of Bridgeville, whose stand at the corner of Route 404 and Scott’s Store Road has been selling barbecue every weekend between April and October since 1961.—RM

D.C. - Federalist Pig

Federalist Pig might have gotten our nod for its name alone. But the fact that pitmaster Rob Sonderman, who cut his teeth at the respected DCity Smokehouse, puts out superlative brisket and pork shoulder chopped with bits of crispy skin is what really wins the day.—RM

Florida - Jenkins Quality Barbecue

This half-century-old, family-run restaurant—which has three locations around Jacksonville—has long flown under the radar. Even so, they serve splendid ribs and chicken with a unique spicy mustard sauce. (Yes, yellow mustard sauce, in Florida.)—RM

Georgia - Fresh Air Barbecue

Atlanta has some really impressive new barbecue places, but we still give the nod to tradition. Fresh Air is old-school Georgia barbecue at its best, serving splendid pit-cooked pork on a sandwich or by the pound, as well as some of the best Brunswick stew in Georgia. It doesn't hurt that they do this in a historic restaurant with a big L-shaped brick pit right in the middle.—RM

Hawaii - Guava Smoked

Cooking whole pigs in the ground is the Hawaiian way, but at Guava Smoked they welcome all proteins. The smoked duck breast would be the favorite if not for the juicy nuggets of smoked salmon belly. Add a side of the smoked fried rice, fortified with chunks of smoky pork, to make it a meal.—DV

Idaho - Cutter's Grand BBQ

Tri-tip, a cut of bottom sirloin steak most commonly associated with California, is found all over Idaho, too. The version cooked on the wood-fired pits at Cutter’s Grand Barbecue, a seasonal stand located just north of Boise in Garden City, is just as delicious.—RM

Illinois - Smoque

I fell in love with Smoque after the first bite of brisket, and it hasn’t let me down since. Years before the current barbecue boom, this small storefront opened in 2006 with a barbecue manifesto, and they’ve lived up to it with an array of great smoked meat (don’t sleep on the smoked chicken) and sides like mac n' cheese.—DV

Indiana - Hank's Smoked Briskets

This was a tough call. I even asked former Indiana basketball coach, Bob Knight, for an endorsement, but he couldn’t remember any great barbecue options in the state. A former neighbor and barbecue road-trip buddy of mine has been in search of good barbecue since he moved to Indianapolis, and he says Hank’s is the only place to ease his cravings.—DV

Iowa - Smokey D's BBQ

Darren and Sherry Warth are some of the most successful barbecue cooks on the competition circuit. I’ve sampled from their pit many times, and it’s consistently been some of the best competition barbecue I’ve ever eaten. Back at home in Iowa, they serve it up at their restaurant that shares a name with the competition team, Smokey D’s.—DV

Kansas - Joe's Kansas City Barbecue

Image via Yelp

Address and phone: 3002 West 47th St, Kansas City (913-722-3366)Website:joeskc.com

Originally known as Oklahoma Joe’s, this Kansas City favorite recently changed its name to better reflect that it’s now one of the best representations of the city’s distinctive barbecue styles. Their burnt ends are particularly delicious.—RM

Kentucky - Old Hickory Bar-B-Que

Kentucky is known for mutton barbecue, and no place does it better than Owensboro’s Old Hickory, where they serve both sliced mutton and mutton ribs along with an excellent bright, tangy version of burgoo, Kentucky’s signature barbecue stew.—RM

Louisiana - Johnson's Boucaniere

Louisiana doesn’t have a rich history of barbecue like its other southern neighbors, but it’s not hard to find a smokehouse full of boudin, a spicy pork and rice sausage. They make their own at Johnson’s, and smoke plenty of other meats like country ribs, pulled pork, and sausage. You can even get brisket on a biscuit for breakfast.—DV

Maine - Smokin' Good BBQ

Cooking barbecue over all wood on a portable metal pit and serving it from a bright orange trailer dubbed “Graceland,” this roadside operation serves up tasty Texas-style brisket and North Carolina-style pulled pork. But the real winner here are the big, meaty ribs.—RM

Maryland - Pioneer Pit Beef

People argue endlessly over the whether pit beef should be considered barbecue or something else. But if you’re looking for delicious fire-cooked meat in Maryland, you’d be crazy to try anything else. For our money, Pioneer in Windsor Mills serves the best version of this unique Baltimore delicacy—a top or bottom round roast grilled over a charcoal fire, sliced thin, and piled on a roll.—RM

Michigan - The Pit Stop

What pitmaster Matt Smith did on Man Fire Food with pork shoulders in his makeshift smoker was impressive. At The Pit Stop, he smokes with red oak and even throws cherry pits into the fire for extra flavor. Open only two days a week, they serve pork ribs, brisket, and smoked chicken along with those pork shoulders.—DV

Minnesota - Big Daddy's Old Fashioned Barbeque

Two Kentuckians and a Georgian headed north to the Twin Cities, and over the years they grew Big Daddy’s from a fair concession stand to a brick-and-mortar barbecue joint. Beef ribs and tender pork rib tips are the way to go.—RM

Mississippi - Pig & Pint

They had me at bacon on a stick, but the menu goes far beyond those hunks of pork belly. Sweet glazed baby back ribs are perfectly tender. House-made sausage is smoky and spicy, with a good snap and herbal notes similar to what you’d find in Chicago’s famous hot links.—DV

Missouri - LC's Bar-B-Q

Kansas City is known for throwing just about anything—brisket, ham, turkey, chicken, pork, sausage, ribs—on a barbecue pit, and LC’s does fine versions of all of those. Best of all, though, are the combo of pork and beef burnt ends, especially when piled on white bread and slathered in tangy sauce to make a sloppy but delicious sandwich.—RM

Montana - The Notorious P.I.G. BBQ

There isn't a whole lot of real barbecue to choose from in Montana, but the folks at Notorious P.I.G. are smoking racks on racks of baby backs and dishing out great looking burnt ends. A barbecue-joint owner/friend in NYC, who also competes in Memphis in May, gives them the thumbs up.—DV

Nebraska - Phat Jack's BBQ

A barbecue-aficionado friend alerted me to Phat Jack’s, and it’s been high on my to-do list ever since. After success on the barbecue trail, and at their original location, they’ve just opened a new restaurant in Lincoln. They’ve got the best looking brisket and ribs I’ve seen come out of Nebraska, and I’m looking forward to a visit.—DV

Nevada - John Mull's Meats & Road Kill Grill

When they’re not butchering meat or processing deer, the team at John Mull’s Meats is cooking top notch chicken, brisket, and ribs for diners to eat at picnic tables under big outdoor tents, and that seems about as safe a bet as you’ll find in Las Vegas.—RM

New Hampshire - Goody Cole's Smokehouse

In a region where most barbecue joints rely on gas-assist cookers, Goody Cole’s stands out for its big Texas-made Oyler pit, which they fire with 100% hickory wood. The result: long, juicy strands of pork pulled and tender brisket with a great, smoky bark.—RM

New Mexico - Mad Jack's Mountaintop BBQ

Not long ago, there was a barbecue food truck in Lockhart, Texas. Local boy James "Mad Jack" Jackson served impressive brisket, ribs, and pulled pork in the barbecue capital of Texas, but the competition was fierce. He has since moved that operation to Cloudcroft, New Mexico, not far from the Texas border. He’s serving the same great barbecue, and has since added sausage links imported straight from Lockhart.—DV

New York - Arrogant Swine

These days you can get really good brisket and ribs all over New York City, but there’s only only place where you can get traditional North Carolina style whole hog barbecue, and that’s at Tyson Ho’s Arrogant Swine. He even fires his pits from an old-school burn barrel—in the heart of Brooklyn. —RM

North Carolina - Allen & Son Bar-B-Q

There is so much great barbecue in North Carolina that it’s impossible to declare any one place the best. So we’ll give the nod to Allen & Son just outside of Chapel Hill because it bridges the Eastern and Piedmont styles of North Carolina barbecue—pork shoulders cooked Piedmont-style over hickory coals in old fashioned brick pits, but served with Eastern-style white mayo-based slaw and spicy, tomato-free vinegar sauce.—RM

North Dakota - Taylor Made BBQ

Just across the river from Bismarck in downtown Mandan, Adam and Kendra Taylor hand slice smoked brisket, turkey, and ribs to order at this new Texas-style joint, which starts serving at 11am and goes until the meat is all gone in the afternoon.—RM

Ohio - Mabel's BBQ

Though inspired by the styles of Texas, celebrity chef Michael Symon set out at his new barbecue joint to celebrate the unique flavors of Cleveland, smoking brisket, beef and pork ribs, and sausage (kielbasa, of course) over local fruitwoods and dressing them in a sauce laced with Bertman’s ballpark mustard into the sauce. And he pulled off that South-by-Midwest fusion quite swimmingly.—RM

Oklahoma - Burn Co. BBQ

In the bologna belt of Oklahoma, Burn Co. BBQ sticks out with a bevy of smoked meat options. Get the ribs, house made sausage, and a slice of the bacon-wrapped sausage roll they call the fatty. The place is so popular it doesn’t have a sign. Just look for the line.—DV

Oregon - Matt's BBQ

This food truck started with a tiny smoker and a scant following in 2015. Now it’s recognized as one of the best in Portland, a city bursting at the seams with food trucks. Matt Vicedomini's brisket is particularly impressive, especially for a guy who learned about Texas barbecue in Australia.—DV

Pennsylvania - Percy Street Barbecue

In the heart of Philadelphia, Percy Street puts out a wide variety of solid barbecue with a nod towards Texas. The brisket is a standout, while the ribs and chicken also satisfy. It was recently sold, and I haven’t been back to try the barbecue from the new pitmaster, but the menu has changed little.—DV

Rhode Island - Becky's BBQ

In a state better known for clams and johnny cakes, Becky's has been cooking pulled pork and ribs over hickory since 1998, making it the hands-down pick of the locals, including my Rhode Island-born buddy Ken Barrette, whose father is a retired butcher and is known to cook a pretty mean pig himself.—RM

South Dakota - Big Rig BBQ

Having long operated out of a big stainless steel trailer (hence the Big Rig), this Sioux Falls favorite just moved into a new brick-and-mortar location where they’re serving brisket, ribs, and pulled pork along with smoked prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights.—RM

Tennessee - Helen's Bar-B-Q

As great as Memphis’ many famed barbecue joints are, it’s still worth a drive out to tiny Brownsville to visit Helen Turner’s one-woman-show. She does everything from shoveling the coals into the pits to mixing the slaw. Each sandwich—with smoky pork pulled from the shoulder, chopped as you order, and doused with a fiery red sauce—is a masterpiece of Tennessee barbecue. —RM

Texas - Louie Mueller Barbecue

Daniel recused himself from judging his home state, so it fell to the South Carolinian to pick the best in Texas, and the nod goes to Louie Mueller. The prime brisket and beef ribs are as intensely flavorful as any other Central Texas meat market, and from the old screen door and battered wooden floor, to the hundreds of smoked-stained business cards thumbtacked to the walls, you simply can’t beat the atmosphere.—RM

Utah - Bam Bam's BBQ

Our sources tell us Bam Bam's is the place to go for great barbecue in Utah, and if the picture on their website of a big platter piled high with meat is any indication, we think our sources must be right.—DV

Vermont - Curtis' All American Bar-B-Que

There’s no barbecue joint in the country quite like Curtis’. Housed in an old school bus and other improvised structures off the side of a Vermont highway, it’s where Georgia-born Curtis Tuff has been cooking ribs and chicken on open pits for more than 40 years.—RM

Virginia - King's Famous Barbecue

If you try to claim that Virginia doesn’t have its own local style of barbecue, the state’s partisans will quickly point you to King’s Famous Barbecue in Petersburg, where the pork and beef barbecue is served with a tangy “Southside-style” sauce brimming with spices and just a hint of mustard.—RM

Washington - Jack's BBQ

From queso to pecan pie, the menu here is pure Texas. If the mesquite smoked brisket and pork ribs aren’t enough for you, come by when Jack Timmons has beef ribs on the smoker. Pair it all with a smoked cocktail, and enjoy.—DV

West Virginia - Martin's Bar-B-Q Joint

Yes, we know we’re picking the outpost of a Tennessee-based company as the best barbecue in West Virginia, but Pat Martin’s whole hog—pit cooked over real hardwood coals—is too good to be constrained to a single state. Get it on a sandwich with coleslaw the West Tennessee way, even if you are in West Virginia.—RM

Wisconsin - Iron Grate BBQ Co.

Iron Grate not only turns out great brisket and hot links in Wisconsin, but they also have come up with a Wisconsin original: the Milwaukee Rib, a pork rib with a thick stripe of belly fat still attached. It’s all cooked over oak wood on a big, home-built offset smoker named Edna.—RM

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